The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1887-11-02
COL. c, j. BOATNER,
A Comparison OF the Present Admins
tration with What Can Be Expected

COL. u. u. BOAINLRs
A Comparison Of the Present Admins
tration with What Can Be Expected
From the Beformers.
Col. @. J. Boatner, Of Monroe, was the
next speaker. He said:
Mr.. Chairman, Ladies and Fellow Citizens
Of the Parish Of Uaddo--Ordinarlly it would
fanord me the most lnexpresSible and I'M
magnificent as this IL both in its numbers
ana IN lts Intelligence: but after the superb
addresses which you have heard from the dis
tingulghed gentlemen who have preceded me.
ana VINO have, may say, exhausted every
subject OF discussion, | very much fear thai
the few remarks which l shall be able to sub
nit to you viii not interest you to a great ey-
tent, and / will necessarily have to travel
over ground which the speakers who preceded
me have already covered.
However, ladies and gentlemen, az have
been announced to speak here tonight, and
as you have kindly and generously remained
to hear the last OF us, | shall proceed, in
as few words as l possibly can, to give you
my IDEAS aud my views OF the duty Of the
hour, ny ideas and my views as to what we
shonid do, and what it IS the duty OF the
Democrats OF Louisisna to do in the contest
IN which we are nov engaged.
.Fellow-citizens, family disputes and quar-
rels between relatives are always bitter ard
fends, partaliing OF their nature, are more
bitter than the contests which are Waged be-
tween opposite political parties. The defeat
| OF one faction by another leaves deeper
stings Of ChGgrin and resentment than the
defeat Of one political party by another. if
the distinguished gentleman who has adj
dressed you to-day. and who is before you
soliciting your suttrages for the high Office
OF Governor, were opposed to candidate of
an opposite political party. and ii he were
defeated by the votes OF the people acting with
| that party, he could submit to it with better
grace, lie could submit 10 il with more eQuan-
unity, and he could retire from the contest
without any Observation-Disclosures any stigma at
tachiRg to his name; but, gentlemen, as I
said awhile ago. fights between factions, po-
| htical family fights, leave stings of chagrin
| and resentment which II seems that time can
never etface and never heal.
The contest, feilow-citizens, in which We
are now engaged commenced IN 1883. In
1858 one of the leading journals Of this
State, apparently animated by
A MALIGNANT HOSTILITY AND HATRED
to certain portion of the Democratic party,
inaugurated a crusade against Samuel ID.
MCEnery. AS has been said to you by the
gentlemen who. preceded me, they invaded
private life, they would have the people OF
Louisiana and the people Of this nation to
believe that the gentleman who went away
from Onachita with the esteem and respect of
I'LL ClHSStS VI people, Win TIE love ana QfieG-
ton of his neighbols and friends, an unpre-
tentious, modest, magnanim0us gentleman,
after being raised to the Executive Office be-
came an individual who better would have
filed felon's cell than have ,graced the gu
bernatorial mansion. This fight was wsged
upon that man down to tile very day that the
convention decided in his favor. A motion
to make his nomination unanimous was met
with stentorian noes. The gentlemen who
went into, that convention as his opponents,
the gentlemen who stunped, this State,
the gentlemen who, used the columns OF the
opposition press for the dissemination of
every SANDER that their managers and satel-
lites could invent pursued him after that
nomination, and by ways that are dark and
tricks that are yainn sought to accomplish
his defeat even after he had had the indorse-
ment OF his party. In the parish of Baton
Rouge, whore the leaders Of the opposition
faction had control of the party machinery,
where they had assumed the functions of q
returning board. where they had arrog0ted
to themselves the right to revise the results
at the polls and to declare that his election in
the different wards had been fraudulent;
where they. assumed the Lowers which
Thomas 9. Anderson and his associates OF
the Returning Board had used i'll the suppress
sion OF the liberties of the people of Louisi-
ana, from 1870 to 1876, l say that the
leaders of
TIE OPPOSITION FACTION
in that parish assumed to purge the books"
las they said of the fraudulent names and to
give the election 10 Gen. Nichols, although
Coy. McHHery had carried it by a large ma
lolIty. When tie convention reversed their
action; when the convention decided that
returning boards were things OF the uast,
when the convention held that the Executive
COMMITTEE Of the parish Of Past Ra ton Rouge
had no right to reverse the verdict which
had been rendered at the polls: when they,
in fine, seated the Mei5nery- delegates in that
convention. those individuals. who / say had
control OF the party luachinery, went out
disgrnntied,. chagriMed, angry, and they
nominee OF the Republican party al The gen
erai eiection-to Mr.. Stevenson, the man
who accepted the nomination Of the fepub-
iican party.
ish which is today, am told stroHgly
Nichols, a paliah in which it is sad
there are no McEneGy men at ali; parish
which is crying ont against the frauds and
lntainIes of what they call the State ring"
gave large majority of the vote TO Mr..
Stevenson, and did all they could to secure
his election | say, felIow-citizens. that
defy YOU, or defy any man who chooses to
follow me on the other side Of this question,
to show where one word of commentator
has ever fallen from The lips of the opposi-
ton party, or from any of their Journals
Except occasionally from the Shreveport
Times, when 1t was under the control OF Mr..
Puckette),, Of Gov. McEnery's administra-
word of commendation which they have ever
given to the Execu tive of this State since he
went into Office after the election. On the
contrary, Col. j. NJ. Hoiiingsworth, Mr.. Par
ker, the editor of the New Orleans Picay1ne,
and the leaders OF the opposition party have.
from that date down to this, demanded every
thing at the hands Of the Executive they
could get, end at the same time they have
criticised his administration in the most
partisan manner. They have demanded
t1ol; they have brought 10 bear every in
tiuence which they could think of
TO SECURE ALL THE PATRONAGE
which they could grasp, and in tile mean
time and at all times they have denounced
this administration, have opposed it, have
Withheld from 1t th41r support. and Ina. have
evil, to disgrace it before the people Of .ouis-
iatia and before the people OF this nation.
[Cheers.l
Now, they come forward They came for
ward early in this year, and they seek to
tinguished soldier, al houored gentleman.
They go to him with the unfounded pretcn-
sion that the State of Louisiana is now en-
thralied and under the control Of q corrupt
and wicked ring, that the people OF the State
have become obliyious Of the infamy Of their
condition, that they Of this State have not
the manhood 20 throw off the miserable and
the odious despotism which has assumed
control Of them, and they say to Gen.
Nichols: You are the political Moses who
is to lead the people out of this political
wilderness. You are the only man in Louis
| lana who has the brains, the patriotism and
| who Possesses the affections OF his people TO
| that extent to wre8s them from the condition
of torpor into which they have fallen. and
throw off the power OF the MCEnery ring,
| and to rebuke CpsariSm and pcTsonaiiSn
exemplified in S. y. Mcilnery.n
| l say, felOT-eitizens, they have gone to
Gov Nichols, and they have made these as
sertiDns to him, and he has been weak enough
H nos hat he re affsP HONOR Of bag
the chief magistrate Of this grand common
| wealth, not that he esteems ii an honor to
occupy the highest Office in the gift OF the